I know what you all are saying. "But, Dawn, you haven't mentioned anything about the first floor at all!" I know, I know...I'm getting there. I must admit, I'm a bit obsessed with the second floor Opera House (can't you tell?), but I will now turn my focus to the first floor.
As mentioned in our first blog, the first floor of the building was finished in November of 1883. N. S. Johnson and Company occupied the South room. The retail space becomes a grocery store.
An article in The Courier, on September 11, 1885, mentions J.H. White is nicely located in his new quarters under the Opera House. J.H. White sold lamps and other lighting fixtures. It’s believed that he took over the south room of the Burwell Building from N.S. Johnson & Co.
The North room was rented in October of 1883 by G.W. Morris. Morris was a furniture maker and had recently added a hearse to this stock. His plans were to add a fine line of burial cases.
In the June 10, 1885 edition of The Courier, it is reported that “C. V. Selkirk & Co have purchased the furniture stock of G. W. Morris and have possession. Mr. Morris, we understand, will still retain an interest in the store and also the one in Hoopeston.” Mr. Selkirk was a member of Company I of the Illinois 17th Calvary. Unfortunately, Mr. Selkirk wasn’t in business long, because on Feb 17, 1886, Selkirk dies after an illness. It was evident by the articles in The Courier and his obituary, that Mr. Selkirk was a well-liked businessman who made and sold quality furniture at a good price.
S.L. Harnit takes over the furniture store in the North side sometime in 1886 – after Selkirk’s death. The furniture store starts out as S.L. Harnit and Wood and later is just known as S.L. Harnit (as pictured in the drawing at the top of this blog).
On February 24, 1888, Wallace Shumway (Shum) Lamb buys the Harnit furniture store. About a year after buying the stock of furniture, Mr. Lamb becomes a licensed embalmer. This is when the embalming business is added as a service within the Burwell Building.
You may be wondering - why did so many furniture businesses also sell coffins and become undertakers? Many early furniture makers began making coffins as a side-business. Especially in small towns, where you had to a be a 'jack of all trades' so to speak. It only makes sense - they had the wood, the tools and the expertise to build them. Some of these enterprising businessmen realized that they could also offer funerals and undertaking services as well.
The W.S. Lamb furniture and undertaking business continues to do well. An article in The Courier reports that Mr. Lamb now has a full line of funeral furnishing.
Thanks to the Immigration Legislation of 1864, an infusion of immigrants were changing the character of cities, as well as of the rural areas across the United States. From 1865 to 1900, the country’s population more than doubled!
As the city of Gibson and the country grew in population, so did Mr. Lamb’s business, until it became necessary to have more room. In May of 1897, Mr. Lamb secured the south room in the same building and double doors were made between the two rooms. W. S. Lamb and Co. now occupied the entire first floor of the Burwell Building.
So, when were those iconic "FURNITURE" letters painted on the front of the Burwell Building? Well, I think it was in the early 1900s, as soon as Mr. Lamb took over the entire first floor. As can be seen by the photo below from 1920, the Furniture letters were there as was "W. S. Lamb & Co" across the entire front of the building. Hint: if you look really closely, you can faintly see the W.S. Lamb & Co lettering under the front windows to this day!
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